Natural
by motherofbeasts
Summary: Set during S3, Laura admits something to Bill after deciding it's as good a time as any. Adama/Roslin.


**So as most of your know last month marked the 10th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica and its been re-running on TV so I'm currently rewatching the entire series. That isn't why however as my partner got a little sick of my constant ramblings about how amazing the show is and based on how much she has liked my other taste in shows and movies decided she wanted to give it a go. So this is my third run through of the show in its entirety and as others would know the show is laced with almost oblivious details that RDM and DE brilliantly weaved into their writing. That being said one tends to notice these tiny details that if we were to have picked up on in the first place then we all would have worked out certain things a shit load earlier. We know from Baltar's trial and Lee's little tirade that Bill already knew about Laura and we didn't get to see him find out. So as I said, third run through and I am currently noticing so many more things (more than I did on my second run through) that during this little scene which was in the very last episode me and my partner watched that there was two great opportunities for her to tell him and this is my take on how that would have happened.**

**Disclaimer: Ya'll know that this isn't my sand box, but I'll be damned if I'm not gunna toss the other kids out, knick their toys and build an awesome sand castle in it. ;)**

"Admiral"

Bill outstretched his hand to take her own.

"Madam President"

Laura took his hand and they shook.

"How are you?" She placed her hands into her lap under the table she was seated at.

Bill smiled down at her.

"Very good."

"I'm sorry I'm sure this all could have been done over the wireless but very frankly I was going a little stir crazy on Colonial One and I just had to get out."

Bill smirked as he responded.

"Deep space pilots, use to call it OBE."

Laura pulled one of her hands out from under the table and grasped the corner of a document on the desk in front of her.

"What's OBE?"

"Overcome by events.."

She gave a slight laugh.

"And you're always welcome here, you know that."

"Well…" Laura looked down to the document she had hold of and held it out to him.

"…you may not feel that way after you've finished this, Tory actually drew up an agenda."

Bill took it from her and began reading through it.

"Baltar again." He turned away from her as she picked up her mug of tea and drank from it.

She looked at him over the rim when she heard him make a muffled groan. She replaced her mug on the table as be turned back to speak to her.

"Can't we just give him back to the cylons?" Bill gruffed.

"Oh you know how much I love that idea, unfortunately, given what little I was able to glean from Caprica Six I don't think the cylons would take him back, so we're stuck."

Laura glanced back to the table in front of her.

"Fine." He was beginning to wish that Lee and his crew had just left Baltar on the algae planet. "Then try the son-of-a-bitch and be done with it."

Laura looked back up at him. "We have to give him a trial, but under what law? Caprican? Picon? Tauron?"

Bill removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing inwardly.

"Do we give him a jury trial? Do we set up a tribunal?" He turned away as she spoke; Baltar never brought anything other than a lingering pain in his ass. "We don't even have anything closely resembling a comprehensive law library and this fleet is not exactly brimming with legal talent."

He turned back suddenly. "Oh if you bring lawyers into this, they're gunna drag you around for months." He replaced his glasses.

"Wasn't you're father, an attorney on Caprica?" She was slightly smiling now.

"Yes." Bill smiled too. "But I told you that I didn't get along with him very well."

Laura looked down, still smiling. "Alright, okay."

She again returned his gaze as he leant on the table between them. "I'm ready to set up an organising committee, but frankly, trying to get a room full of legal scholars to stay on task is like herding cats, and so." She leant back into her chair and began to stand.

"I need to set up an chairman of this committee" Laura leaned on the table between them, in front of Bill, mirroring his position. "Someone who can make a hard decision and someone who won't get seduced and bogged down by all the legalese."

Bill moved and half sat on the table. "Do you have a candidate?"

She smirked at him. "As a matter of fact I do, I was thinking Lee. Like Grandfather like Grandson perhaps, whadda ya think?"

Bill thought about it for a moment before responding. "I'm not gunna say he's incapable of handling it but, he's never shown, any type of interest in law." He returned his eyes to hers.

Laura drew a breath and straightened up slightly. "I know but here's the thing. We can use the lawyers to pass the law but we really need people who actually know the difference between right and wrong, thus Lee."

He had to agree with her there, without looking at her he answered. "I'll talk to him."

Laura smiled. "Good."

Bill stood up from where he was sitting and was about to head to the hatch when she spoke again, he turned to face her.

"Also Admiral I was wondering if you mind if I stayed on your ship for the rest of the day."

"Please, by all means." he answered.

Despite his response Laura wasn't sure how he felt about that, she didn't want to impose and yet for a moment it appeared as if he wasn't in the room at all.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

_Being up and ready at ludicrous hours of the morning was not a foreign thing for him, what was however, was the bright orange hues that would normally encompass the beginnings of a day. He had spent a lot of his life on Battlestars folded away in the depths of space, some would say too much and he would probably agree with them. One trivial aspect of living life in space that he had never given any special consideration to was missing nature, missing out on what was natural. On the colonies the sun would rise in the morning, first appearing soft and pink, before meshing into a generous shade of orange and finally forming into the brilliant golden glow that they had all taken for granted. Though, that was of course how things worked out, you didn't miss, didn't notice, didn't crave what was natural until it was taken from you._

_And as he roamed the halls of his all too familiar home at 0500 hours, making his way to the CIC, that is exactly what he was realising. The cool metal that passed by him, never appearing any different with each day was more normal at 5am than the rising sun. He didn't know how long it had actually been since he'd seen the sun peak out from below the horizon and mark the beginning of a brand new day. Clearly it had been too long._

_In that moment, Bill Adama rounded the corner only to almost walk straight into Doctor Cottle._

_"Sorry Admiral I didn't quite see you there."_

_Bill smirked._

_"That's quite alright Doctor, you seem to be in a hurry is something wrong?"_

_Cottle shifted his stance and properly turned to face the Admiral._

_"No, not at all. Just heading to sickbay now, lots of people needing my attention these days Admiral, most of them frakking hypochondriacs." Cottle grumbled in reply._

_Bill had to smile, for a person who dedicated their life to the healing of others and the sanctity of prolonging life, he didn't appreciate the people that came along with it._

_Cottle continued "But, then there are those that are not and I would like to keep my schedule on time today if I can help it, people to see with more important jobs than mine, excuse me Admiral."_

_"Of course Doc don't let me keep you."_

_The Doctor moved past Bill while pulling a cigarette from his top pocket. Bill smiled again, this time to himself and couldn't help the thought that crossed his mind 'Yeah, he values life'._

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

"This is very difficult for me to say but.." she swallowed and shook her head slightly, "I'm going to go to the gym."

Bill watched her as she spoke, pulling a face at the end of her sentence as if she was ripping off a band-aid. He smiled and she returned it.

"Prepare yourself, on its best day it smells like the inside of a shoe." Bill turned and started back to the hatch he had previously entered through when he heard her laughing. He had a thought that suddenly stopped him and he turned back around to look at her.

Where Laura was standing she had begun packing away the folders and files that were displayed on the table in front of her.

Once she was done she reached into her bag and produced a thermos, she then leant down and picked up the mug she had brought with her and poured herself another cup of tea. As she brought the mug to her lips he saw her spot that he hadn't actually left yet.

She swallowed the slightly bitter liquid and gave him a questioning look.

"Is there something else you wanted to discuss Admiral?"

He regarded her for a moment before responding.

"Just curious. The gym?" He smiled.

Laura had to smile in return.

"What? Can't the President of the twelve colonies want to get a work out in before lunch?"

There was amusement in her tone and he knew that she hadn't taken offense.

"Of course, as I said… curious, you haven't expressed interest before. To my knowledge."

This time her reply didn't carry the same amusement although her tone was still light.

"To your knowledge."

Bill quirked an eyebrow at her, still smiling.

Laura sighed.

"No. Actually, you're right I haven't, but I do have some other business on your ship and thought I should waste some time in the healthiest manner I could find."

In that moment another thought hit him, as suddenly as the previous one. A thought that made him sick to his stomach.

_People to see with more important jobs than mine._

His change in demeanour didn't go unnoticed by Laura as she took another sip of her tea; she eyed him over the rim of the mug.

"Something the matter Admiral?"

Bill wasn't entirely sure what to say. If his intuitions were correct, which he deeply hoped they weren't, she hadn't out right told him herself. In fact she hadn't made any effort to tell him at all and if she were ready for him to know then she would mention it.

She didn't appear to be.

Bill shifted were he stood and answered.

"No, nothing, you just reminded me of something."

Now it was Laura's turn to quirk an eyebrow. Whatever it was she had 'reminded' him of it didn't appear to be a pleasant thought.

"Bill."

"Yes?"

Laura replaced her mug back onto the table and stood up straighter. "I don't mean to pry but what is it that I could have made you remember that brought upon that expression?"

Bill couldn't tell if she was genuinely inquisitive or if she knew what he must have assumed and was giving him an opening, he was certain that it was the former however he still decided to take the opportunity.

"I ran into Doc Cottle early this morning, you just reminded me of something he said."

With that Laura stiffened and looked away. Nothing she could have said would have confirmed his suspicions more than the reaction he had just gotten. If he was honest, the Doctor hadn't said anything remotely involving her, however he couldn't imagine what other business she might have on his ship that didn't involve himself. It was a two plus two kind of situation.

She proceeded to fold her arms and turn away from him. Bill clasped his hands together in front of him though didn't move from his position across the room, closer to the hatch than to her. He watched her bring one hand up to rub her forehead while she rounded the table, she then dropped her arms and half leant half sat against it before allowing her eyes to greet his own.

She looked positively stoic, he couldn't read her and he knew that's how she wanted it. It was in that moment that he knew he was about to receive some information he really didn't want to hear.

"I wasn't going to mention this just yet, however now seems as good a time as any." Laura stopped and took a breath in before continuing.

"I had a check up last week, like I have been every three months since Baltar injected me with Hera's blood. Only this time the tests came back positive."

She watched as Bill lowered his head, breaking eye contact. He shifted again before returning to look at her. They stared at each other for a while, neither knowing quite what to say.

Laura was the one who found her words again.

"I have another test today to see if it wasn't just a false positive and if my canc..." she stopped suddenly and looked up at the ceiling, this time Bill tentatively took a few steps towards her. As he came to a stop a mere metre directly in front of her she returned to looking him in the eye but didn't speak. Bill saw how her eyes were glistening if only slightly and her lips her pulled into a thin line, this time he spoke.

"So you may be in the clear?" his voice was low.

Laura continued to look at him a while longer before she slowly shook her head.

"Laura.." she cut him off before he could indulge them both in his words of hope.

"No Bill. I'm not in the clear..." She gave a slight hum as if to clear away the emotion she was feeling.

"My cancer is back."

And then there was silence. That word had a way of sucking the air out of any room.

Bill finally spoke up, not wholly sure he should even bother. "Shouldn't you wait until after your appointment today before jumping to that conclusion?" Bill was certain he was grasping for false reassurances, he tried anyway.

Laura sighed and swallowed the persistent lump in her throat.

"I can feel it. Not the cancer itself but I knew it before Doc Cottle received my test results. Something felt different, I _feel_ different and I have for a while now. I was hoping I was wrong but..." she trailed off and shook her head.

"It was only a matter of time."

Bill couldn't help the dreadful feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach.

"How bad is it?"

Laura sighed again and moved to stand.

"We don't know yet..." She turned to face the table and picked up her thermos and mug to place them inside her bag. "..those kind of tests will be next."

In that moment she felt his hand on her back and her body slackened at the touch. She turned to face him again and he gently placed his hands on her arms. His eyes were boring into her own with an expression she could only place as utter sadness, the kind that you felt in every pore of your body. It was too much for her and she instead chose to look down at her own hands. When she did she heard, more than felt, him move and the next thing she knew his arms were around her.

She positioned her chin atop his shoulder and hugged him back, closing her eyes.

It was a difficult thing, holding a person who's own body was attacking them from the inside. Bill was accustomed to war, battles and strategies were something he was often required to delve into and for the most part he had always won. But fighting a battle with something unseen that didn't require guns or soldiers was completely foreign to him and when it was a battle that she herself had to fight, it felt wrong.

In that moment, holding her, feeling her breathing, feeling her living, it felt natural.

_Though, that was of course how things worked out, you didn't miss, didn't notice, didn't crave what was natural until it was taken from you._

**I'm thinking I might write something about her herself finding out or another different story of how Adama finds out himself OR a different one on how I actually legitimately think he found out in the show and where. As always read and review please.**


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